Social Media Marketing Tips for Shop Owners

Many people, especially young adults, are deeply involved in using social media every day. It’s a common occurrence to see people using their mobile phones when out and about, taking their phones with them and browsing social media sites on-the-go, any time of the day or night.

According to Statista, the average user spends 135 minutes on social media sites every day!

Daily time spent on social networking by internet users worldwide from 2012 to 2017

As a shop owner, you should take advantage of social media marketing to reach the many people who are active on it everyday. Through social media marketing, you can increase your brand presence online and develop a personal connection with potential shoppers, transforming them into loyal customers. Successful social media marketing plays a key role in business today, even with brick-and-mortar shops.

Use these social media marketing tips for shop owners to make the most of your efforts:

Choose the right platform

There are many popular social media platforms to choose from – these include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, and Snapchat. But you shouldn’t create a profile on every platform just because it exists. It’s better to have consistent and active accounts on a few channels where your potential customers frequent the most.

The Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter profiles of Kenyan company Ocean Sole are great examples of an active and consistent social media presence. Ocean Sole recycle flip-flops that wash up on Kenyan beaches to create pieces of art. All three of Ocean Sole’s social media accounts are used regularly, with plenty of relevant posts and attractive, tasteful images.

To choose the channels most suited to your target audience, ask yourself the following questions:

What are you selling?

The product or service you are selling will determine how and where it should be advertised. By looking at similar companies, you can find out which channels are most successful for your product type. Clothing, for instance, sells well through Instagram advertising, using attractive images.

Who are you selling to?

How old are your customers? What social media channels do they frequent the most? What content do they like and share the most? For example, if your target audience share a lot of Facebook videos, creating an active page on Facebook, with regular video uploads, will be the ideal marketing tactic.

Take advantage of local marketing tactics

As you have a brick-and-mortar store, your main objective is to get customers online to walk into your store and buy your products. To do so, your social media marketing strategy should take steps to ensure that locals in your area know where you are located.

There are several ways you can do this:

Tag your location in Instagram posts.

Check in to your location on Facebook.

Ensure any Facebook ads you have specifically target people close to your location, who will actually be able to visit your shop. Do this through the ‘store visits’ objective for Facebook ads, using ‘Business Locations’ targeting to choose a target radius around your store.

Using Business Locations targeting in Facebook Ads, for more information see Facebook Help

Don’t forget mobile

According to Facebook, 49% of in-store purchases are influenced by digital interactions, of which more than 50% occur on mobile. Drive your in-store sales by aiming your marketing efforts at mobile phone users. This is increasingly relevant with the growth of mobile shopping.

Facebook’s mobile ads are now offering a way to link ads to local product catalogs, through dynamic adverts, so people can always see what is in stock at their nearest branch. This means that customers will be able to visit your store knowing that they can walk out with the product they saw in your online ad. This solution is especially useful when there is a big sale, as products on special offer may go out of stock faster. Customers are able to see the products in stock at their local store, and any products out of stock will not be visible in the advertisements.

Facebook testing dynamic adverts

But, when it comes to optimizing the shopping experience for mobile users, don’t just stop at advertising. Once they’ve arrived in-store, ensure they can pay using a variety of mobile payment options for added convenience and a smooth purchase process.

Encourage UGC (user-generated content)

The most organic and trust-building social media content you can have is UGC – user-generated content. People are more likely to trust a brand that has pictures and reviews from real-life customers. A brand with an active social media account that is buzzing with glowing reviews and comments from followers will encourage trust and increase conversions from customers who don’t want to miss out on the products everyone else seems to love.

Provide special offers and in-store discounts for customers who visit your shop and post pictures of themselves at your shop, or using your product, with the relevant hashtags, tags, or location tags. This turns store visitors into brand ambassadors and builds brand awareness to a greater audience of social media users.

Set up your social media accounts to reach your target audience, and then encourage visits through UGC, special offers, and targeted ads. Don’t forget to reach out to mobile users too, and see conversions rise, as your social media followers become paying customers.